


Of Heroes and Hellfire

by starryeyedchar



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Fire, Firefighter Lance, Firefighters, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mutual Pining, Police, Slow Burn, police officer keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 14:15:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13789455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryeyedchar/pseuds/starryeyedchar
Summary: It started with a house fire.Which, admittedly, made things sound a hell of a lot more dramatic then they actually were. Lance had seen plenty of house fires these past few months.He was a firefighter, after all.But then again, the fire wasn't the part that was out of the ordinary. That was Keith, or what he learned the name of the infuriating yet attractive policeman at the scene was.Because that was the first time they met.Lance wanted to save people, so he became a firefighter. Keith wanted to save people, so he became a police officer. This is the story of how they fall in love.





	Of Heroes and Hellfire

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by an idea from and written for @lovely-little-lucifer on tumblr, so much love and thanks to them!
> 
> I fell in love with the idea, and this is now the longest one-shot I've ever written! I worked really hard on it, and I really hope you all enjoy!

It started with a house fire.

Which, admittedly, made things sound a hell of a lot more dramatic then they actually were. Lance had seen plenty of house fires these past few months.

He _was_ a firefighter, after all.

But then again, the fire wasn't the part that was out of the ordinary. That was Keith, or what he learned the name of the infuriating yet attractive policeman at the scene was.

Because that was the first time they met.

Lance was just doing his job, as usual. He showed up at the scene, and if there was anyone still inside the house, he went in and got them. If not, the chief would tell him something else to do.

It was pretty standard for a house fire, all things considered. No casualties, just four family members coughing from the smoke. Lance was helping the family's little daughter down the stairs of the porch when the police cars showed up.

He blinked at the sirens, first in confusion, then irritation. Them being here would just make their job more difficult. He never got why the police sometimes had to show up for these things. They were zero help whatsoever.

It's not like _they_ were the ones specifically trained to handle fires. Ambulances? Those he could understand, but the cops? Absolutely not. They could decide the cause of the fire just fine for themselves, thanks.

He handed the daughter off to her father, and they were all loaded into the back of an ambulance for routine checks. The little girl was crying, still, and pointing back at the house while her father shook his head. Probably mourning the loss of a stuffed animal.

This accomplished, Lance took off his mask and tossed it to Hunk, then stormed over to the nearest police officer and crossed his arms. “And just what are all of you doing here?”

The man looked up at him, and Lance realized his eyes were a strangely beautiful shade of purple. In fact, the guy himself was pretty—

Lance shook his head to clear it. No time for that nonsense now.

The police officer blinked. “We're doing our _job_ ,” he said slowly, like Lance was an idiot.

He scoffed. Typical. “I don't think the 911 call was exactly meant for _you_. We've got this under control.”

The officer glanced over at where his coworkers were still trying to put out the last of the fire with their hoses. “Do you?”

Lance's hands clenched into fists, and he opened his mouth to retaliate, but his train of thought was cut off by a second officer placing a hand on the first one's shoulder.

“Keith, relax,” he said, then turned to Lance. “We have reason to believe this fire may have been caused by an arsonist in the area. They haven't caused anything but small fires so far with no casualties, but they may be getting more desperate before they get caught.”

Lance was at a loss for words for a moment. “Well, then maybe you should've _told_ us we had an arsonist on the loose! That's something that might be, oh, I don't know, a little relevant to what we do?”

Now it was the second officer's turn to look irritated.

“It's not our fault if your chief didn't tell you,” the first guy, Keith, said. “Shiro called himself to let you know.” He jerked a thumb at the second officer.

Coran, the chief fireman, seemed to have gotten the gist of what they were talking about. “Ah, yes, sorry Lance, my boy. I was just going to debrief you, Allura, and Hunk on that, but I guess you're good now! I'll go tell them and you can keep chatting with these kind gentlemen here, okay?”

Lance rolled his eyes at the somewhat eccentric chief of their four-person fire crew. “Shouldn't you have told us before we— what was that?”

He'd heard a noise coming from the house. But weren't all the family members already out?

Coran's face fell. “Oh, no... we assumed it was already dead.”

Lance heard it again; a bark. Coming from inside the house.

“Is there a _dog_ in there?” Hunk asked in confusion, probably having heard the sound as he put away the hose, the fire finally taken care of.

Coran nodded solemnly. “Yes... we assumed it was already gone, but I guess it's still alive. We can't get to it, though; the room with its cage is on the top floor.”

“So... so we're just going to _leave_ a dog in there?” Lance demanded. “To die?!”

“We can't save it, Lance,” it was Allura speaking this time, though she looked sad. “It's too dangerous. I'm sorry.”

Lance looked around at everyone. The three of them looked sad, but also resigned. And the two policemen he'd been talking to seemed to be staring at him, as if to see what he would do.

“No,” Lance said, under his breath. Then again, louder. “No, fuck that.” And he was running into the house.

“Lance, no!” Allura called after him, but she and Hunk were still on board the truck, and couldn't get near him. “We may have put out the fire, but there's still too much smoke!”

“You don't even have your mask!” Hunk added, but Lance didn't care.

He'd never been unable to save someone before. And he'd be damned if he wasn't going to try and save that dog.

 

* * *

 

When Keith heard the barking, he felt something in his stomach drop.

But getting the dog out would be too risky. Even Keith knew that, especially now that the smoke was within the entire house.

He didn't like it, but it wasn't like they had a choice.

At least, that's what he'd thought, until the idiotic firefighter, Lance, went charging into the house regardless, without even bothering to put his mask back on.

“What the _hell_ is he doing?” Keith demanded, looking up at Shiro. How was it that everything this one fireman did pissed him off?

Shiro just let out a small chuckle. “You can tell he chose this job for all the right reasons. He's got the heart for it.”

This statement only succeeded to make Keith more confused. “He's not going to be on the job for much longer if he gets himself killed,” he mumbled.

Not that he cared if that random idiot got himself killed. Obviously. That was his own business.

Still, Keith found himself anxiously staring at the door to the house.

“Why does he always do this? I don't know if my heart can take much more.”

Keith turned to see who'd spoken— it was the one of the other firemen. He was pretty sure his name was Hunk.

The female firefighter, Allura, patted him on the shoulder. “He may be a tad reckless, but he is good at his job. If I know Lance, he'll get that dog out of there.”

“It's not the dog I'm worried about,” Hunk muttered with a sigh. 

“You okay there?”

A voice beside Keith startled him out of his thoughts. He looked down to see Pidge, a current intern whose brother Matt was also a police officer. She knew more about tech than anyone on the force, though, and was pretty dedicated to the arsonist case.

“What?” Keith asked intelligently.

Pidge snorted. “You're looking at that house like it just killed your cat.”

Keith glared at her. “Not a cat, a _dog_.”

Pidge's eyes went wide, and she pointed at the house. “You mean—?”

Keith nodded, but interrupted her before she could finish the question. “The family's dog is still in the house, and they didn't tell the firemen because they thought it was a lost cause. But they heard the dog from outside, and one of them ran in. Without his mask.”

Pidge's eyes, already enormous behind her glasses, seemed to increase in size even more. “Without his... is the guy a complete _dumbass_?! He's a fireman, for fuck's sake! Doesn't he know that up to eighty percent of fire related deaths are actually due to the smoke?”

“Pidge,” Keith said, voice tight. But she kept going.

“One hundred firefighters die on the job per year on average, and he's taking risks!” she continued, floored. “How long has he even been in there?! In some cases it only takes two minutes for someone to pass out due to smoke inhalation, and—”

“ _Pidge_ ," Keith repeated, the severity of his tone finally shutting her up. “I'm sorry, but for once can you not do your job and stop with the statistics? I really don't need to hear the likelihood that Lance is going to die right now.”

Pidge blinked. “Lance?”

“The firefighter that went inside,” Keith said impatiently.

“I figured, it's just that you didn't call him Lance before.”

Keith pursed his lips at that. Why should he care whether or not Lance came out of this alive? Answer; he didn't. But it's not like he wanted him to die, either. Of course he didn't. And as a police officer, seeing someone with so little regard to their own life made Keith anxious. Even if he didn't know him.

Keith opened his mouth, unsure how to respond to Pidge's words. Then, suddenly, a figure emerged from the door of the house, which smoke was still pouring out of.

There stood Lance, coughing profusely, face streaked with soot, and carrying a small dog in his arms.

The other firefighters immediately rushed forward. Allura took the dog from him, and Hunk nearly tackled Lance in a hug.

“Don't _do_ that, man! We were so worried!” he exclaimed, and Lance smiled at him wearily.

“Sorry, sorry,” Lance said with a laugh, which quickly dissolved into another coughing fit. “But the dog's okay, right?”

“The dog's fine, but you're not,” Allura spoke up. “Come on, let's get you to the hospital. Your lungs need to be checked.”

“I'm fine, I—” Lance broke off into more coughs, and Allura rolled her eyes, tugging him back to the truck. Hunk followed anxiously behind while wringing his hands, and Coran offered Keith, Shiro, and Pidge a friendly wave as he joined them.

“He saved the dog,” Keith whispered, barely audible, as he watched them drive off.

“Did you say something?”

Keith shook his head, earning a shrug from Pidge as she continued to go about her business.

For some reason, he couldn't seem to stop thinking about the firefighter with the bright eyes and dazzling smile, who'd recklessly ran into a smoke-filled house just to save a dog.

 _Lance_.

 

* * *

 

Lance's bad luck was rather famous with those that knew him best. Well... infamous, he supposed.

It caused a lot of people to wonder about why he decided to choose such a dangerous career.

He made terrible first impressions, had an ongoing streak of unsuccessful flirting, and had bad a habit of throwing self-preservation to the wind. 

But most of all, he often wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So, when Lance was depositing money into his account at the bank one morning before work, he almost couldn't find the energy to be surprised that some guy walked in, and pulled out a gun.

“EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND!” the guy shouted, voice slightly muffled by the black ski mask pulled over his face.

Lance suppressed a sigh. He was going to have to apologize to Coran, since he'd probably be late to work.

But he got down anyway, because Lance's reckless, death-wish tendencies weren't _that_ strong.

The man pointed the gun at one of the people working behind the counter, a girl with long, dark hair in a ponytail. She was shaking.

The guy with the gun, who Lance was beginning to refer to in his head as Ski Mask Guy, tossed a burlap sack across the counter to the girl. She caught it.

“You, stay there,” Ski Mask Guy ordered, and gestured with the gun. “Give that bag to your friend, and he can fill it with cash.”

The second person working at the bank was a guy. Tall, with blonde hair. He wordlessly took the bag, hesitating.

“Well?! What are you waiting for?!”

“Sir,” the brunette girl spoke quietly. “I... we can't—”

“DO IT, OR I START SHOOTING!”

She winced, and the blonde guy immediately headed to another area behind the counter, starting to fill the bag. His hands were trembling. The girl who had the gun pointed at her had started to cry.

During this whole exchange, Lance had been slowly edging behind the guy with the gun, and getting his phone out of his pocket. He dialed the number while Ski Mask Guy was focused on the others. _No sudden movements_ , he told himself.

He waited to hear the line pick up, and the “911, what's your emergency?” After that, he switched it to speaker, but turned his volume down to mute. Hopefully, whoever was on the line could hear everything going on, and nobody else would be able to hear whatever they said.

Lance shoved the phone into his back pocket, then tentatively stood up. He took a step forward. “Hey, woah, buddy. Slow down. Put the gun away, nobody needs to get hurt here.” He said that as loudly as possible so, hopefully, whoever was on the call could send officers to his location.

Ski Mask Guy whirled around to look at him, and Lance sucked in a breath as the gun was pointed at his chest.

It's not that he hadn't been around guns before. In fact, when he was little, his uncle had taught him to shoot. He wound up being pretty good with a gun, able to hit any target.

He used to say he wanted to be in the military, possibly a sniper or fighter pilot but... the first time his uncle had taken him _hunting_ Lance had quickly learned he didn't want to actually shoot anything, or anyone. He was perfectly fine with stationary, bullseye targets.

Still, holding a gun and having one pointed at you were two _very_ different things. That's when it hit Lance— this person could kill him.

“Nobody's gonna get hurt, as long as I get what I came for,” the guy practically spat, and Lance flinched. “So shut your face.”

But Lance forced himself to keep talking. It wasn't exactly hard, as talking was pretty much all he knew to do when he was nervous.

 _Distract him, but don't get him annoyed enough to shoot you._ A tightrope Lance wasn't confident he could walk on. “Okay, well, they're getting you the money, aren't they? There's no need to wave that thing around.”

“What're you acting all high and mighty for, huh? You a damn police officer? Nobody _asked_ you. Shut the fuck up.”

Lance managed a small smile. “Actually, I'm a firefighter. But I'll take it.” He became aware that everyone else in the bank had their eyes on him. Some looked afraid, or seemed to regard him as insane. The girl behind the counter, however, was staring at him in awe.

Like he was a hero.

Ski Mask Guy started to turn the gun back to the workers at the bank, but before he could the phone in Lance's back pocket vibrated.

He squeezed his eyes shut, and cursed Hunk for being such a wonderful, worrisome best friend.

Lance had forgotten to turn vibrate off.

And just like that, the gun was pointed back at him.

“What was that?!” Ski Mask Guy demanded, frantic.

Lance reflexively put his hands in the air. “Relax, it's probably just my friend texting me. He must be worried, since I'm late for work.”

The guy nodded, as if to assure himself he wasn't in danger of being caught. “Right. Okay, yeah. Everyone give me your phones, or I'll start shooting.”

Another woman who'd been waiting in line sent a glare Lance's way. She was holding her phone, undoubtedly planning to call the police herself.

Everyone else slid their phones across the floor to Ski Mask Guy as he pointed the gun at each of them in turn where they were crouched on the ground. The people working handed them to him across the counter.

Ski Mask Guy pointed the gun at Lance again. “Well?”

Lance attempted to smile again. “You can see my hands in the air, can't you? Do I really have to—?”

“Phone. Now.”

Lance took a deep breath, reached into his pocket, and took out his phone. Before he could even attempt to subtly end the call, Ski Mask Guy snatched it from his hand.

As he stared at it, Lance tried to mentally prepare himself for the worst.

It wasn't working.

The guy looked back at him, and Lance's breath caught in his throat.

“You called someone?” he asked, voice deadly soft. “You called the _POLICE_?!”

Ski Mask Guy threw the phone to the ground, and Lance tried not to flinch. The call was ended, the screen shattered. “No, I was just—”

“Are you fucking _stupid_?! I have the gun, I'm in charge! I could _shoot_ you!”

“Please, _please_ , I'm sorry, put the gun _down_ —”

Lance was interrupted by the door bursting open. Several things seemed to happen at once after that.

Everyone's eyes turned to look at the door, to see that a single policeman had rushed inside, his own gun drawn and pointed towards Ski Mask Guy.

Lance abruptly realized that the officer was actually the one he'd been talking to at that fire the past week, Keith.

“You!” Lance exclaimed, without thinking.

Keith's eyes snapped from Ski Mask Guy to Lance on the ground, and widened. He seemed to take in the gun that was pointed at Lance. “You?!” he replied, sounding thoroughly confused.

All these things seemed to happen too fast for Ski Mask Guy, as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the room.

For a second his senses burned to numbness, and all Lance felt was pain. He collapsed backwards against the floor.

 _Am I dying?_ Lance couldn't help the  thought, as he reached up and felt blood beginning to coat his shirt.

But... no, the bullet had hit him in the shoulder. Ski Mask Guy must've panicked and not aimed properly.

“ _Lance_?!”

It took him a second to realize that Keith had called him.

Lance pressed a hand to the wound— he hadn't exactly dealt with a gunshot wound before, but he knew you had to put pressure on it —and pushed himself to a sitting position.

“I'm good,” he said, with a terrible excuse for a smile. “Well, not _good_ , but... it's just my shoulder.”

Keith seemed to visibly relax. “Jesus. What is it with you and nearly dying?”

This time, Lance's grin was genuine. “Believe me, I've been asking myself the same thing. Can't exactly blame me this time though, can you, Mullet?”

Keith rolled his eyes, but reestablished his focus on the shooter. “Drop the gun, and put your hands where I can see them.”

Ski Mask Guy wasn't about to give in that easily. “Let me go with the money, and nobody else in here has to get hurt.”

Keith squared his shoulders. “No one is getting hurt. Drop the gun.”

“Let me leave, or the next shot goes in his skull.”

Lance could feel his breathing growing short again as the gun was lowered to point at his head. Right between his eyes.

He felt like his head was full of static.

Keith tensed. “No, _don't_ —”

 _His finger isn't on the trigger_ , Lance noticed. _Maybe Keith could—_

Another shot rang out, and Lance jerked backwards at the sound, flinching away from it.

But evidently, Keith had had the same thought Lance did. Ski Mask Guy's gun clattered to the floor as he clutched his now injured hand.

Lance scrambled to pick up the weapon from the floor, put the safety on, then tossed it to Keith with his good arm. The other caught it easily in his free hand, and Ski Mask Guy cursed.

Another officer burst into the room, thinly veiling his relief with a glare. Lance had never seen him before, but Keith seemed to know him.

“What the _hell_ were you thinking?!” the new guy demanded, smacking Keith lightly on the back of the head. “You can't just storm in like that! He had hostages!”

“Hostages he could've _killed_ if we wasted time,” Keith countered. “Sorry I worried you, Matt, but you know I can't just sit around to think of a plan, _especially_ in situations like these.”

The other officer, Matt, pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Fine, fine. I guess for you it's understandable, but don't be surprised if Shiro lectures you when we get back. One of these days you're going to get yourself killed.”

Huh. Here Lance thought that this Keith guy was nothing like him. Their personalities, at least from what he'd gathered, were pretty stark opposites. And yet they shared something in common.

They both acted recklessly and threw themselves into danger in order to save someone.

Matt seemed to take stock of the room, and his eyes grew comically wide when they landed on Lance. “And someone get this guy to a hospital! Christ, do I have to _everything_ myself?” He turned and left the room, escorting Ski Mask Guy outside and leaving Keith to hoist Lance up and help him walk to the door.

“We've got to stop meeting like this,” Lance joked, earning a snort from Keith.

“I wasn't expecting to meet you again at all, actually. Wasn't too bummed about it either. You weren't exactly my biggest fan last week,” Keith reminded him.

“Well, you sorta saved my life today, so you're pretty alright as far as I'm concerned,” Lance said.

“Pretty alright.” Keith nodded, with a small smile. “I'll take it.”

Lance couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up his throat. “Hunk's sure gonna get one hell of an explanation for why I was late to work today, huh?”

Keith eyed him skeptically. "There's no _way_ you're going to work today. Come on, the ambulance is already outside.”

Lance nodded. _I may not be going to work_ , he thought to himself. _But after they patch me up I sure am going to have a lot to tell Hunk._

Namely, him getting shot. But also that the previously irritating police officer from before was actually... kinda cute.

 

* * *

 

The next time they met was a few weeks later. Keith wasn't even working; he had the day off. But he could both hear and see the sirens from inside his house. Ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks. Whatever happened must've been really, really bad.

An uneasy feeling settled in Keith's gut as he took out his phone and called Shiro.

The feeling just got worse when Pidge was the one to answer it.

“Hey, Keith,” she said, voice weary. “I thought today was your day off?”

Keith got straight to the point. “What happened? Where's Shiro?”

“Relax, he's okay. He's just in charge of the arsonist case so he's... busy.” There was something she wasn't telling him.

“What happened?” Keith asked again, and she sighed.

“They targeted another house but... this time the family didn't make it out in time. The four of them were dead before we reached the scene. Seems they were sleeping right in the thick of it,” she told him, then took a deep breath. “It's... bad. I can't even imagine what it's like for Shiro, since he's got to notify the relatives.”

“Who's there?” He was almost afraid to ask.

“Shiro, Matt, and I currently as far as officers, as well as some paramedics even though there's nothing they can do at this point. The firefighters from the last attack are here, too, same squad and everything. They're.... they're not handling it well, either.”

“Can I head over?”

He could hear the grimace in Pidge's voice. “Keith, I don't think you want to see this.”

“I'm on this case, too,” he reminded her. “I _need_ to see this.”

“Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you. I'll send you the address.” And with that, Pidge hung up.

Keith didn't take very long to get to the house, and he wasn't exactly sure what he'd been expecting.

The fire had been put out, but the damage was already done. The once beautiful place was nearly in ruins, and there were several gurneys with sheets covering the bodies. Keith repressed a shudder, and looked around.

He spotted the Coran and Allura, who he recognized from the last fire, were speaking with some passerby, ushering them on their way. Hunk stood near the paramedics, seemingly comforting one girl with a pixie cut and earrings in particular. Keith assumed they probably knew each other.

All of them glanced his way, but their gazes didn't linger long.

Shiro offered him a tired wave, and Matt nodded solemnly in his direction. Pidge tried her best to smile. But Keith's eyes snagged on someone who didn't even look up, didn't move to indicate he'd noticed Keith's presence at all.

Lance was sitting on the curb, back to the house, staring at the ground in front of him.

And he was crying.

Not loudly, not wanting to draw attention to himself. But silent tears rolled down his cheeks as he struggled to keep the sobs in.

And Keith resisted the sudden urge to curse. He knew Lance's injury had been fairly minor, all things considered, and that he'd probably have gone back to work by now.

But a small part of him had hoped that Lance wouldn't have to see this.

Keith sat down wordlessly next to him on the curb, only to realize he had absolutely no idea what to say. So he just put a hand on Lance's shoulder, to ground him and let him know he was there.

Lance blinked and looked at him, seeming to register for the first time that he was there. Then, just as quickly, he turned away, wiping furiously at his eyes.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, with an exhale that could almost be counted as a laugh. “I don't know why I'm crying. I didn't know them, it's not like I'm a family member. They're complete strangers to me. I shouldn't care at all.”

“Just because you never knew them doesn't mean you're not allowed to care,” Keith told him. “You're human, after all. You're allowed to cry.”

“This is supposed to be part of my _job_ , Keith. I should be able to handle it,” Lance said, wiping at his eyes. “But... I can't. This is the first time someone's died, the first time I haven't been able to save someone.”

Keith remembered the first time a life had been lost when he was on the job.

He'd cried then.

“You can't possibly blame yourself for this. They were all... gone before anyone got here,” Keith reasoned, instead of voicing his thoughts. But Lance just shook his head.

“I do blame myself, though,” Lance said, finally looking back at Keith. “I wasn't there, but it's my job to be there. That's why I wanted to be a firefighter in the first place, so I can save people! And if I'm too useless to do that, then what good am I? If people die because of me then... what's the point?”

“But you _do_ save people. You've saved people before, and you'll do it again,” Keith assured him. “But you can't expect yourself to save everyone— that's impossible. Don't try to put that burden on your shoulders.”

“I _know_ I can't save everyone!” Lance snapped, then quieted his voice as he continued. "But... I want to. I really, really want to.”

Keith wasn't sure what to say to that.

“You wanna know why I became a firefighter?” Lance asked, after a little while.

“You said it was because you wanted to save people,” Keith said. “Your uncle taught you to shoot, but you decided you could never hurt anyone... right? So you changed your mind. You were kind of babbling about it on the way to the hospital.”

Lance smiled sadly. “Well, that mindset came from when I was a little kid. I don't remember too much about it, but my family's house caught fire. Back in Cuba, that is. And I have a pretty big family, so a lot of us lived together back then. And then the fire happened, and we had to move for a while but... the firefighters saved everyone. Every single one of my family members, all safe and sound, barely even injured. And I just remember thinking how cool they were, to do that. How grateful I was.”

And Keith smiled back, because the more times he ran into this Lance, the more similar he realized they were.

“My parents were both killed in an armed robbery when I was little,” he told him, and Lance's eyes widened, smile disappearing as soon as it had come.

“Armed...?”

“Yeah, like the one you were in a few weeks back,” Keith said, with a nod. He looked down. “Um. I had to go live with my aunt and uncle for a bit, then I wound up in foster care... it's... it's a long story.”

“I'm sorry—”

“Don't be,” Keith interrupted. “Not your fault. Well, neither is this, but. Anyways. I hated police officers, for a while. Was mad at them, thought that they hadn't done enough. But they gave me a call when they finally caught the guy that did it, and they were so... genuinely sorry, you know? I could tell they actually cared about what they were doing. And even if they couldn't save my parents, I decided I wanted to be like them. I wanted to save people, like you, and I wanted to be able to stop people like the man who killed my parents. So, I guess we're more alike than I thought.”

Lance stared at him. “Jeez, I feel kinda stupid now. Here I am crying about people I don't even know, and you've had to deal with a life like that.”

“The past is the past,” Keith told him, with a shrug. “Still hurts, but it gets easier every day. And nothing's going to get better if you don't do your best to help the future.”

Lance smiled, for real this time. “Well. You're a lot nicer to talk to then you first let on, aren't you?”

“Right back at you,” Keith stood, then extended a hand to help Lance up. “Come on. Let's see if we can catch this damn arsonist together, before anyone else gets hurt.”

Lance took his hand with a grin, and shook it.

 

* * *

 

The next time they met was at a restaurant, of all places. Lance was out to dinner with his older sister, Eiley, telling her work stories. She'd flown up from Cuba for a while after he got shot to come visit him, and would be leaving the following day.

His eyes snagged on something over his sister's shoulder that made him do a double take.

Was that... Keith?

Their table was pretty near the front, and sure enough, when he looked again, Lance's eyes were met with one Keith Kogane waiting at the counter to order food. Maybe it was just Lance, but it almost seemed as if he were deliberately avoiding looking in their direction as he determinedly stared at the floor.

Busy or no, Lance couldn't resist the urge to be obnoxious, especially when Keith was involved. So he did.

“Hey! Keith! Over here!” Lance all but shouted, waving his arm high. Keith's head snapped up, eyes widening slightly when he saw the other grinning at him. He raised his hand in an awkward wave, but Lance kept calling him until he eventually huffed a sigh and came over. Lance smirked up at him. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Keith looked thoroughly unimpressed. “ _That's_ all you called me over to say?”

“A guy can't just want to talk to his friend?” Lance asked. Something in Keith's expression flickered at the word, as if surprised. For some reason, Lance wanted to make that happen again.

“I don't think you've ever mentioned him before, Lance,” Eiley spoke up, looking between the two of them with a smile. “Another friend from work?”

“Kind of. Keith's actually a police officer. And a damn good one, too.” If Lance hadn't been so distracted by Keith's blush at the compliment, he might have realized that his sister was catching on.

“I actually just came from the station,” Keith told them, with a small smile. “Shiro, Matt, Pidge and I are staying late to work on the case and Pidge sent me to get some food since we'll probably be there for a while. Creating a suspect list with this little evidence is a bit of a challenge.”

“I thought Pidge was the intern,” Lance said, with a small laugh. “Why does she have you running errands for her?”

“Pidge may technically be an intern, but what leads we _do_ have are all thanks to her,” Keith shrugged.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Eiley said, holding up a hand. “Lance, is this the police officer that saved your life? Back at the bank? You said his name was Keith, right?”

“I wouldn't say I saved his—”

“Don't be modest!” Eiley interrupted. She stood up suddenly, and tackled Keith in a hug. “Thank you _so_ much! Lance told me all about what you did at the bank, and how you cheered him up after that terrible fire. You know, he talks about you a lot, actually.”

“ _Eiley_ ,” Lance hissed, under his breath. His sister was about to blow his cover.

“You really don't have to thank me,” Keith muttered, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else. “It's... it's all part of the job, and Lance's sqaud has been helping us a lot with this case, so. It was the least I could do. Really.”

“Nonsense,” Eiley waved him off. “Let me pay for your food, at the very least! As a thank you for keeping my baby brother safe. Cuba's too far away for me to take care of him, and someone's got to look out for this reckless idiot, am I right?” She grinned.

“Ouch,” Lance grumbled, but his annoyance was quickly forgotten at the way Keith looked up, eyes darting between him and Eiley with something like... hope?

“Brother...?”

Eiley nodded. “Yep! I'm Lance's older sister, Eiley. It's great to meet you after hearing so many good things, _Keith_.” She stuck out a hand, and gave Lance a very unsubtle wink.

Keith shook her hand with a small smile. “You don't have to pay for anything, or thank me. Like I said, it's what anyone would've done. But... it was good to meet you. And good to see you again, Lance,” he said, waving at them as he turned and started out of the restaurant. “I've gotta get this food to Pidge, but I'll see you again soon, yeah?”

“Of course!” Lance called after him, grinning. He turned back to his sister only to find that Eiley had narrowed her eyes at him. He fidgeted. “What?”

“I had my suspicions with how you talked about him,” she said. “But now I'm sure. You are _very_ into this boy. Why don't you just ask him out already?”

“I am _not_ —”

“Lance. Please. I know what you look like when you're crushing on someone, and you're crushing _hard_. You were blushing almost the entire time he was over here.” She shrugged. “Besides, even if I wasn't sure, Hunk called me already and basically confirmed it, so.”

Lance shook his head. “Well, Hunk's a traitor, _and_ he's wrong.”

“Hunk's never wrong.”

“Even if I did like him, there's no way he'd feel the same way,” Lance argued, leaning back in his seat. “So just drop it, okay?”

“You're kidding me, right? Eiley asked, gesturing at the door. “Did you even _see_ the way he was looking at you? Or the way he got so happy when he realized I was your sister and not your date?”

“Look, can't we just... can't we just enjoy dinner, and not talk about this? He's trying to focus on the case right now, and he really doesn't seem the type to be able to put up with me. For now we're sort of friends, so how about we just leave it at that?”

Eiley sighed. “Okay. But only if I get to say 'I told you so' at the wedding.”

Lance groaned, and smacked his head on the table. “You're impossible.”

“And you are positively _gone_ over this police officer,” Eiley replied with a smirk. “Just admit it.”

“Fine! I admit it, okay? Now shut up!” Lance buried his face in his hands. “ _God_ , I hate you sometimes.”

Eiley seemed to consider this. “Is that so? Guess I won't pay for the garlic knots.”

“Have I mentioned that I love you? And that you're my favorite sister?”

 

* * *

 

The night they finally caught the arsonist started out normally enough.

Keith, Matt, Shiro, and Pidge arrived at the house after the firetrucks, and he got out of the car to see Lance carrying a small child from the burning house. Hunk was leading another by the hand, the parents following them. Allura and Coran were manning the hoses.

He made eye contact with Lance, who while still in all his gear had pulled the mask down so his face was visible. He grinned and waved at him with his free hand. Keith smiled back.

“No casualties?” Keith asked, walking over already. He couldn't seem stay away, and why would he want to?

“No casualties!” Lance confirmed, mock saluting him. “The entire family is out safely! None of them saw anyone suspicious though. Is it possible this is a regular house fire?”

Pidge, who'd apparently followed Keith over, tapped her chin in thought. “It's in the same time frame, and relatively the same kind of victims he's targeting. Once the fire dies down I can go inside and look for a potential source, but if the family doesn't know what could've caused it then I think it's _definitely_ worth investigating.”

“Well, Allura and Coran should have it under control soon,” Lance told them, with a bright smile. “We don't call ourselves 'firefighters' for nothing. As soon as it's safe, you can all go in.”

Pidge sighed. “Thanks. As agreeable as you and your squad are being, I still hate arsonist cases. So much good evidence, just destroyed!”

“Oh, please, Pidge, you always find something,” Keith said, nudging her. “Don't sell yourself short, or Matt will come over here and start singing your praises.”

“Thankfully, he and Shiro are both busy.” She jerked a thumb behind her at where the other two police officers were talking to the family. Hunk stood with them. “In fact, everyone seems to be doing their jobs, except you two, who are over here _flirting_ again.”

Keith felt his face go bright red. “We are _not_ —”

Pidge was already turning away, lifting a hand to wave over her shoulder. “Don't worry, I won't tell Shiro. Carry on.”

Keith cleared his throat, turning back to Lance. “Sorry about her, she's....”

He trailed off, upon finding that Lance was blushing. _Hard_.

“It's fine!” he said, too quickly, his voice an octave too high. He coughed. “I... I mean, yeah, it's totally fine. Because of course we weren't... I wasn't... I mean, not that I wouldn't, because you're... very... Is Hunk calling me? I think I just heard— yeah.” Lance turned on his heel and stalked away, the tips of his ears still burning red.

Keith blinked.

“He likes you.”

Keith nearly jumped a foot in the air, pressing a hand to his chest at the sudden appearance of Matt. “ _Jesus_ ,” he breathed. “Don't do that.”

Matt just snorted. “How about _you_ don't change the subject? He's into you. What're you waiting for?”

“He's not flirting with—”

“Keith. Buddy,” Matt put a hand on his shoulder, which Keith immediately shrugged off. “Yes. He is. And he seems nice, and funny, and he's hot as hell. I mean, I know if I weren't in a relationship I would _totally_ —”

“Matt.”

“Right, right, sorry. But you should go for it.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “And why should I be taking relationship advice from _you_?”

Matt smirked. “Because I somehow wound up with Shiro?”

Keith opened his mouth to reply, only to close it again. He wasn't wrong.

“I'll stop bothering you. Now isn't really the place or the time, but think about it, okay?” Matt nodded in Lance's direction. “I want to see you happy, and you smile a lot more when you talk to that guy.” He started walking over to Shiro and the others.

Keith felt his face flush red again, but Matt stopped in his tracks before he could reply, eyes going wide as he stared up at the house. Keith followed his line of sight, only to see a girl waving from the top story window.

The smoke obscured a lot of the details of her face, but one thing was for sure.

Despite the fire burning around her, she was grinning.

Matt stared at her for another moment, frozen, before whirling around, ready to notify the others. But everyone else had already noticed.

Shiro's expression had gone hard, and he glared down at Hunk and Lance. “What the _hell_?!” he demanded. “You said you got everyone out!”

“We did!” Lance insisted, staring helplessly up at the girl. “I don't know how she—”

“You were incompetent, that's how!” Shiro interrupted, seething.

Matt put a hand on his shoulder, tugging him back. “Woah, babe. Calm down. It's not their fault.”

Lance's gaze was fixed on the window, and Keith could see him trying to figure out how they'd even missed her. He couldn't understand it himself; it just didn't make sense. Why wouldn't the family tell them about another person in the house?

“They didn't tell us there was anyone else living in the house,” Hunk exclaimed. “We... it was just them living there, I don't know—”

“Why is she _grinning_?” Pidge asked, her voice hushed.

“She thinks we're going to save her!” Lance said immediately, but Keith wasn't sure that was the answer. “And we have to! Here, I'll go up there, or we can get out the ladder, something—”

Lance started towards the building.

And then it clicked in Keith's head.

So he ran in front of him, blocking his way.

Lance's brow furrowed in confusion. “Keith, what the hell? Move. I have to do my job.”

Keith set his jaw, already prepared for the argument that was to come. “I can't let you go in there. It isn't safe.”

Lance stared at him for a moment. “Well, obviously. Of fucking course it isn't safe, the house is on _fire_. But it's kind of my job to go in there and get her out, so get out of my way.”

Keith repressed an eye roll. “ _No_ , I mean... you can't go in there. That girl... she must be the arsonist.”

Everyone else stopped cold. Five pairs of eyes turned to look at him, and he shifted his feet uncomfortably.

“I think,” he added, as an afterthought.

“Oh, you _think_ ,” Lance echoed. He placed a hand on his hip. “So... what, then? You just want to let her die? Was she even one of your suspects?!”

“Of _course_ we're not going to just leave her to die,” Keith said. “But she's dangerous. She may be suicidal at this point. She's killed an entire family, injured countless others, and deserves to be taken into custody to answer for her crimes, but it won't be easy if she's already gotten this reckless.” He paused. Took his gun out of its holster. “That's why I'm going to go in. Alone.”

“Keith—” Shiro started, evidently not liking the idea, but Lance was already ahead of hm.

“Bullshit,” Lance declared, taking a step towards him. “You can't go in there with that fire, you don't even have any of the proper gear! Sure, maybe there's a chance she's a dangerous criminal, but I can't let you go in there.”

“Well, I'm not letting _you_ in there.” Keith turned to Shiro. “I can bring her in. She's most likely not armed, and we need to bring her into custody.”

Shiro looked at the house for several seconds, then sighed and shook his head. “I'm sorry Keith, but it's just too dangerous. We'll have to wait until Allura and Coran have finished to go in.”

“But she's right there!” Keith insisted. “She could get away! Shiro, all those people, that family, because of _her_ —”

“I know you want to catch her, Keith, and I'm sorry,” Shiro said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “But... sometimes, enough is enough. It's too much of a risk. Sometimes... you have to know when to quit.”

Keith _didn't_ quit. It was a fundamental part of him, his refusal to give up on anything. He'd been chasing this arsonist for so _long_ , and they were so _close_ and—

Looking at Lance, and knowing everything this case was for him, too... he knew he couldn't walk away.

Keith met those ocean eyes, and he was reminded of a house fire like this one, under similar yet drastically different circumstances, when a stubborn firefighter wouldn't turn his back on a dog.

“I'm sorry,” he said, directly to Lance, then turned and sprinted into the house.

He heard the others calling after him, but he tuned it out. He had to be quick.

The smoke made it hard to see, stinging at his eyes almost the second he passed through the door, but he kept going anyway. Sure, having a mask would've made that easier, but there was no time, and he couldn't allow the firefighters to get near someone this dangerous unarmed.

All he had to do was find the girl and escort her out. He'd be out of the house in a minute, maybe less, and they'd have her in custody. Shiro and Matt would lecture him, and Lance might be upset, but if they caught the arsonist then it was worth it.

These thoughts were stopped abruptly when Keith entered the house to find the girl he'd seen through the window waiting for him, standing halfway up the stairs. Her eyes were an alarming shade of electric blue. Her hair was a pinkish sort of red, pulled up into along, high ponytail on top of her head, and she still wore that eerie grin.

Keith shifted under her gaze, but aimed his gun at her anyway. “Are you responsible for the series of house fires taking place around this area in the past month?” he demanded.

She said nothing, only smiled wider.

“Are you the arsonist?” Keith asked outright. He had cause to arrest her anyway, but he couldn't help it. “Did you... are you the one that killed all those people?”

The girl didn't seem to hear him, only looked around at the house going up in flames around them. “It's beautiful, isn't it?”

Keith's hands tightened around his gun. “I don't have time for this,” he muttered, before taking a step closer to her. He resisted the need to cough. “You're coming with me.”

Her eyes snagged on his for the first time, and Keith was surprised by the glassed over look they had. As if she weren't really there, not mentally.

“Why would I ever leave?” she asked, her voice so soft he could barely hear it. “It's so lovely here. I don't understand why those other people left. I did this for them! And fire is so much more enjoyable when I can share it!”

Keith stared at her, incredulous. Her lighting these fires was just due to her obsession with it, then? It wasn't unusual in arsonist cases, but he couldn't help but feel there must've been more to the story. Arsonists were statistically more likely to be men, according to Pidge, who, while wrong about the gender, had theorized that the arsonist would have some sort of attachment to fire due to some event that had taken place during their childhood. Keith was willing to bet that's what this was. She'd most likely been setting small fires for years, and now finally started targeting family homes. Probably the setting of her earliest encounter.

“If... they'd stayed in here, they would've died.”

She giggled, and the sound sent chills down Keith's spine. “Exactly.”

Keith clicked the safety off.

“You... you have the right to remain silent,” he said, taking another step closer to her. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of—”

He broke off at the sound of a creak from the floor above him, loud and ominous. He looked up, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He turned his gaze back to her. Keith couldn't afford to worry about anything else right now.

“You really shouldn't have come in here,” the girl said, her voice lilting slightly, as if she were pleased with herself. “It's very dangerous. You could be killed!”

“You're under arrest for the serial fires that have been taking place in this town,” Keith said. He took another step closer. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. Do you understand your rights?”

The girl nodded. “Of course I do, but I have to say, it's a bit stupid of you to come in here, even if you're looking for me. Do you have a death wish?”

“Do _you_ have a death wish?” Keith shot back. He was getting impatient, and he had to get out of this house. Soon. He hadn't counted on small talk, of all things. “In case you hadn't noticed, I'm pointing a _gun_ at you. And the alternative to coming with me is staying here and burning alive or suffocating. Let's go.”

“But the fire won't hurt me,” the girl told him, completely confident, though it continued to rage around them. Coran and Allura were still trying to control it outside, he didn't doubt, but the entire house still seemed to be completely engulfed. “It's never hurt me before. It _chose_ me.”

Keith nodded. Pidge had theorized this, too— this girl was the sole survivor of a house fire when she was very little, and had grown obsessed with it. At least, that's what he was beginning to suspect from what she said to him.

“It'll hurt you, though,” she continued, a small smile. Keith nearly asked what she was talking about, since while the fire still destroyed the house around them, it wasn't close enough to burn and he hadn't inhaled enough smoke to pass out. Yet.

But before he could say anything else, another creak sounded above them, this one much louder. He looked up to see the ceiling cracking above him, and before he could move it came crashing down. That was the last thing he saw before everything went black.

 

* * *

 

“Let _go_ of me!” Lance shouted, struggling against Hunk's hold. “I have to go in there, you have to let me in there—”

“I can't!” Hunk insisted apologetically. “I'm sorry, but if that girl is the arsonist then it's too dangerous! You're unarmed!”

“Keith doesn't have a _mask_!” Lance said, still trying with everything he had to go towards the house. He knew firsthand what that was like, after all. “He'll _suffocate_ in there!” He rounded on the police officers once it became clear that Hunk wasn't letting him anywhere near that house. “And you! Aren't you supposed to be his coworkers? How could you just let him run in there like that?!”

Shiro glared at him. “We didn't _let_ him do anything. Keith ran in on his own, recklessly, and we can't risk anyone else to go in there and get him. We're just going to have to hope that his plan works.”

“Or what? He just dies?!”

Matt stepped between them when Shiro started forward. “Listen. Keith's always had an issue with letting the bad guys get away. He always goes after them, no matter the danger to himself. But like Shiro said, we can't risk anyone else. Not until the arsonist is in custody and the fire dies down. He gave Lance a small smile, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Keith's an excellent police officer. He's made it out of worse than this before. Let's trust him, yeah?”

But every passing second just set Lance more and more on edge. If Keith was just going in, getting the arsonist, and coming back out, then what could possibly be taking so long? There really wasn't any time to lose.

He heard Allura curse from where she and Coran stood above them, still on the truck and trying to put out the fire.

“ _Shit_! I think some of the supports are down, and I don't know if the house is going to hold for much—”

She hadn't even finished her warning before there was a deafening crash from inside the house.

Lance had been a firefighter for long enough to know what that meant. Part of the ceiling within the house had collapsed.

Shiro's hands trembled at his sides. Matt had turned as pale as a ghost. Pidge screamed.

Lance's eyes fixed on the door, waiting for the impossible, waiting for Keith to walk out of the door coughing but alive. Waiting for a miracle.

He knew that, in all likelihood, Keith had just been crushed.

 _Keith_.

The guy who'd saved his life, who'd found the words to comfort him when no one else could.

The grumpy police officer who'd witnessed him save a dog, who his sister had met just the previous weekend.

Who Lance was beginning to realize he was slowly, but _surely_ , falling for.

Lance had only been too late to save people from a fire one time, and it was enough for him to know he never wanted to feel that way again.

All those thoughts ran through his mind in the blink of an eye, and he registered that Hunk's grip on his arm had loosened in the next moment.

And then Lance was running.

He tore into the house, eyes scanning until he found Keith. He wasn't exactly hidden, but the policeman's predicament was just as he'd feared.

Keith was unconscious, lying on the floor with his legs pinned under some heavy broken floorboards that had no doubt fallen from above. Lance knelt beside him, filled with relief at the mere fact that Keith was _breathing_.

But... he wouldn't be for much longer.

The fire, while still all around them, wasn't close enough to Keith to badly burn him, and it died down more and more as time went on. But the smoke was still filling up the room. So much of it he could barely even _see_ , and Keith had already been inside the house for long enough to be concerning. Not to mention the fact that he was trapped.

With all those factors, it wouldn't be long before... before...

Lance _refused_ to let that happen. He put a hand under either side of one of the boards, and pulled with all his strength.

The pile of rubble shifted only slightly after several attempts, and the splinters were already cutting into his hands. He knew deep down that it was too much for him to move, but he kept trying anyway, because the alternative wasn't an option.

Lance cursed, fighting back tears. He could get Keith out if he just had some _help_ , but... no. Things were already dangerous enough as it was. Hell, Lance probably would've passed out already, too, if not for his mask.

His _mask_.

Without a moment's hesitation, he took the equipment off and fitted it to Keith's face instead, then sank back onto the floor with a small sigh of relief. With the help of that, he should be able to start breathing normally again.

Maybe Lance couldn't get him out, but he could at least do this. And he could stay with him, too, even though the smoke stung at his eyes and pricked at his lungs. He didn't care, as long as Keith was safe.

His vision had started going black around the edges when Keith's eyes finally opened. That curious shade of purple that had Lance so mesmerized when they first met filled with confusion that quickly gave way to horror as his hands felt what had been placed on his face. He stared up at Lance, who despite everything found the courage to smile.

There were _so many things_ Lance wanted to say, but before he could get any of them out, everything went dark.

 

* * *

 

Keith woke up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as his sight slowly focused on a white ceiling. He looked at his surroundings, and huffed an exasperated sigh.

He'd been in the hospital plenty of times before— it wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence with the job he had, and even with his life before that. He just didn't like them, not in the slightest. They were too quiet, too full of death and pain for him to remember all the good that was done there.

And always with the _white_. So much of that one color, seemingly put there just to blind his eyes.

So, Keith wasn't exactly pleased to be waking up in a hospital bed, but he wasn't surprised, either. The throbbing at the back of his skull, the slight ache in his chest, and the dull pain whenever he moved his legs more than explained that he was right where he should be.

He glanced to his side and found that Pidge was curled up and sleeping in a chair near his bed, hair sticking out all over the place and glasses slightly askew. He felt a rush of fondness in his chest.

He didn't _want_ to wake her up, but he knew she would want him to, if for no other reason than that she hadn't plugged her laptop in before apparently passing out. And try as he might, he couldn't sort through the fog in his brain in order to figure out what had happened. It was all... blurry. He remembered the arsonist still being inside, running into the building and then... nothing. Just blankness.

Pidge jumped out of her chair at his small tap on her shoulder, looking around wildly before her gaze settled on him. She squeaked.

“I would hug you, but I'm afraid you'll pass out again, so I won't,” Pidge informed him, with a small laugh. Keith snorted.

“Thanks.” He paused, unsure if she would start filling him in without being asked, but she seemed somewhat reluctant to do so, for whatever reason. “So... um. What happened? How'd I end up here?”

“We got you back okay. You've got a few burns, though they're not too bad, and your legs are pretty bruised up. You're lucky they're not broken. And a minor concussion from your head hitting the floor, but all that's still not enough to keep you out of work for too long. The biggest issue was your lungs, but you're much better now in that respect. Shiro and Matt are with the girl now, since she's here too to get patched up and stuff. Apparently her name is Ezor. They've got to keep an eye on her.”

“It wasn't for nothing, then,” Keith whispered, mostly to himself. “We.. we're actually going to be able to bring her in. I'm glad, after everything she's done.”

“Yeah, the two of them got all of you out of the house once Allura and Coran had managed to bring the fire down enough. Well, Hunk helped, too.”

Keith's brows furrowed. Pidge had said 'all of you', but the only ones in the house were him and the arsonist... right? “Wait, but shouldn't Hunk not have been allowed to go inside? I thought we agreed that with the girl there it'd be too dangerous for anyone to go in unarmed.”

“Well yeah, but at that point things were looking dire and Hunk insisted that he could probably carry people easier than them and he had a mask for the smoke, so,” Pidge shrugged. “They let him help. Ezor was unconscious by that point, anyway.”

This only succeeded to make Keith more confused. The word 'mask' triggered something in his mind; a fuzzy memory of some kind. But he still couldn't quite place it.

The longer he thought about it, the longer images came into focus. Ocean blue eyes slipping shut, a dazzling smile that practically shined through the darkness, a hand in his...

“Besides, Hunk was pretty adamant about getting Lance out of there. You can probably imagine how much he freaked out when he saw you were wearing his best friend's mask.”

 _Lance_.

Suddenly, everything that had happened came rushing back to him. Keith abruptly recalled the way he'd woken up to see Lance above him in the smoke, his mask nowhere to be found until Keith registered it was on his own face. He remembered the way Lance's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed onto the floor. Keith had tried to get to him but his legs were stuck and his arm's couldn't reach...

Keith sat up quickly and tried to get out of bed, but Pidge was already at his side and pushing him back down.

“Hey, you need to rest,” she said. “Lance is... he's fine now, I promise. He's getting treated down the hall.”

“Fine _now_?”

Pidge hesitated.

“ _Pidge._ ”

“He... was in bad shape when you two were brought in. Lance didn't get more than minor burns because of his suit but... it was a while before we were able to get you out of there. His lungs were pretty messed up. For a bit... it looked like he might not make it,” Pidge confessed, and Keith sucked in a breath. Lance could've _died_. Saving him. “But he really is fine now, I swear! He's resting right now, but he should wake up pretty soon. And I'm sure he'll want to see you.”

Keith tried to stand up again, and again Pidge's small but surprisingly forceful hands pushed him back into bed easily. Or maybe he was just that exhausted.

“Pidge, _please_.”

She looked up, seeming slightly shocked at the seriousness in his voice, only for her features to shift into understanding a moment later. “You... you really care about this guy,” she mused aloud. “Don't you?”

Keith didn't have to say anything, didn't even have to nod for her to smile back at him. The answer was written all over his face.

Pidge sighed, and helped him out of bed. “Go. Room 306. You have to get back quickly, though, because you should _both_ be resting,” she reminded him. “I swear, it's not like he's going anywhere. Why couldn't you just wait?”

“Have you met me, Pidge?” Keith asked, starting towards the door.

Pidge laughed. “Fair enough. And hey!” she called after him, though he'd already gone into the hall. “If Shiro and Matt ask, I'm telling them that I was asleep and you snuck out on your own!”

 

* * *

 

Lance tilted his head to the side, the florescent lights too much for his eyes to bear after just waking up. Upon doing so, the first sight he was met with was Hunk, seated in a chair beside his hospital bed. A circumstance they'd been in several times before, and Lance had to admit the sharp ache of his chest and scratchiness of his throat were pretty familiar, though this was the worst he'd felt in a while.

Except this time, Hunk immediately burst into tears.

“Woah, woah, hey!” He was glad to find that his voice wasn't too choked, all things considered. Lance tried to move to go and comfort him, but quickly realized that wouldn't be a very good idea. “Hunk, what's with the waterworks?”

“You.. y-you almost d-d-died!” Hunk sobbed, and Lance rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I know. That's nearly every day at work. Seriously, I've been in the hospital a ton of times before. What's the big idea?”

“This is _different_ !” Hunk insisted. “Your... your lungs were wr- _wrecked_ , and you almost... you almost—!”

“But I didn't,” Lance interrupted, with a smirk.

Hunk sniffed. “If I wasn't so busy being relieved, I'd be so _mad_ at you right now! What in the fresh heck were you _thinking_ , Lance?! I'm starting to think you actually _want_ to die!”

“Why do you think I took this job?”

“ _Lance_!”

“Kidding! Totally kidding!” Lance held up his hands in surrender. “I took it so I could save people, you know that. I was just making a joke, jeez. Too soon?”

Hunk blinked at him, then nearly exploded. “You are _in a HOSPITAL_!”

Lance jumped, covering his ears. “Yeah, okay, too soon. But before you yell at me, remember that there are tons of _other_ people in this hospital too, so don't be so—”

Lance froze, eyes going wide as the wave of memories crashed over him.

“ _Keith_ ,” he breathed, looking at Hunk in a panic. “Oh my _god_ , is Keith— is he okay, is he—”

“He's fine,” Hunk said quickly, all anger forgotten as his hands rested on Lance's shoulders in comfort. “He's perfectly fine, I swear. You can go see him soon, probably, but you both need to rest right now. You're actually in worse shape than him.”

Lance collapsed back against the pillows with a sigh of relief. “ _Good_ ,” he said, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before turning back to Hunk. “Say, what're the odds that I can charm a nurse into letting me go see him, like, right now?”

Hunk raised a disapproving eyebrow. “No matter what they are, there is no _way_ I am letting you out of this bed after what you pulled. Do you know how _worried_ we—”

Hunk stopped short at the sound of the door opening, and they both turned to see Keith burst into the room, breathing hard and still in his hospital gown.

“ _Lance_ ,” Keith whispered, barely audible. He leaned against the doorframe, as if finally able to relax now that he'd actually seen the other awake and breathing for himself.

It made something in Lance's stomach leap, in the best kind of way. “Uh. Hey,” was all he could manage to get out. Hunk looked between them, a knowing sparkle beginning to form in his eyes.

“You know what?” Hunk said suddenly, even though neither of the other two people in the room were looking at him. “I just remembered, I promised to meet Allura in the cafeteria! Apparently, this hospital actually has some pretty decent food. So, I'm going to— yeah. Have fun talking, you two!” With that, he rushed out the door, leaving them alone.

Keith sunk into the chair nearest him, and Lance gulped.

“So,” Lance began, with an attempt at a smile.

“So,” Keith repeated, fixing him with a glare. “What the _fuck_?”

Lance had been expecting it, but the harshness in Keith's voice still made him flinch. “I—”

“Why would you even _do_ that!? Are you an idiot?”

Lance swallowed, and decided to play dumb. “What exactly are you so upset about?”

“ _What am I_ — I'm upset because you shouldn't have ran into that house! You shouldn't have given me your mask, but you did, and now you're hurt because you're a selfless dumbass with no regard for his own life!”

“Oh, what, so I should've just let you die then?” Lance shot back. Now he was beginning to get angry, too. “No way! What kind of person would I be if I didn't try to save you?!”

“A living one!”

“Keith, you _know_ me,” Lance insisted, and it was true. While not for very long, he felt like they understood each other more and more every time they crossed paths. “You know I can't just stand by when someone's in danger. Why are you even surprised?”

“This isn't just about being a hero, Lance! I know you want to save people, and I don't blame you, but there's a line!” Keith's voice had risen significantly in volume, but neither of them seemed to care.

“What line!? You went in there _first_ , you hypocrite!” Lance said, shouting too. “You put yourself in danger all the time, just like me! You have no room to talk!”

“This isn't about me! It was my job to bring the arsonist into custody, and I did that!”

“I only went in there because I had to save you! It's _my_ job to save people from fires!” Lance pushed himself up out of the bed, standing on wobbly legs to get in Keith's face. “What you did was reckless!”

“What _you_ did was suicidal!”

“Oh, so now _I_ have a death wish?!” Lance could feel tears stinging at the corners of his eyes, but he ignored them. “The only reason I went in there was because of _you_ , you idiot! Sure, I wanted to save the girl, too, but... I couldn't just sit there and watch you die!”

“ _You_ could've died! You almost did, and for what? For _me_ ?!” Keith's exhaled slowly, clearly trying to rein in his anger. “ _Why_?”

“Why? You're asking me _why_ ? What the hell, you _know_ why! It's obvious, isn't it?!”

“No, I quite honestly have no idea why you did that!” Keith took a step back, and crossed his arms. “Whatever your reasoning, it was incredibly stupid of you, and you have to promise me you'll never do anything like that again.”

Lance hesitated, but ultimately shook his head. “I can't promise that.”

And Keith was _seething_. “Why the hell not?!”

“I just can't, okay? I've always been this way— it's not like this is something I can change! Would you just shut up about it already? I never wanted to fight—!”

Lance was being stubborn, but Keith could be stubborn, too. “No! Not until you tell me why!”

“Because I'm in love with you, you idiot!”

And just like that, the room went deathly silent. Keith's eyes widened, and he stumbled backwards until he bumped into wall. “You're...?”

“I... I didn't just run in there because I wanted to save you. I wanted to save _you_ , Keith, specifically. Which is why I gave you my mask, and why I can't make your stupid promise,” Lance had been staring at the floor, but he brought his gaze up to meet Keith's. “I'd do all of it again in a heartbeat, because... I think I'm falling in love with you. No, I _know_ I am.” Lance's voice cracked at the end of his sentence, and he was unable to hold back the strangled sob.

Keith's eyes widened, and he reached out, hands stopping before Lance as if he wanted to help but had no idea how. He said nothing.

Lance laughed helplessly, the tears starting to run down his face. “Well, I finally said it,” he muttered. “And I know you don't feel the same way, and it's fine, but I really didn't want to have to make this weird, so I'm—”

“But I do,” Keith cut him off, and now it was Lance that looked surprised. “I.. I do feel the same way. Why do you think I was so worried about you?”

Lance sucked in a breath. “You... you do? But I thought—”

Keith interrupted Lance's words by pressing their lips together softly. The chaste kiss only lasted for a second or two, but when he pulled away Lance was blushing.

“ _Oh_ ,” Lance whispered, fingers hovering over his lips as if to make sure of what had really just happened.

“Of course I do,” Keith said softly, bringing his hands up to cup Lance's face. He smiled. “How could I not?”

Lance remained frozen for a second longer before he broke out into a smile, too. He wrapped his arms around Keith's waist, pulling him closer, and their lips crashed together once more.

Lance's heart soared. He was _kissing_ Keith, something he'd thought about doing only since the moment they'd met.

Nothing else mattered. There were no arsonists, no fires, no criminals to catch or people in danger for them to rescue. The rest of the world fell away, and for a time it was just Keith's hands in his hair, his lips against Lance's. _Keith felt the same way._

And that was all that mattered, in that moment.

When Lance finally pulled away he was grinning, Keith's face was bright red, and they were both breathing hard.

“Wow,” Keith said, still staring into Lance's eyes. “I should've kissed you ages ago. Guess now we can see each other more, not just when something horrible is happening, huh?”

Lance laughed, and he could feel more tears spilling down his cheeks. Keith jumped.

“Oh no, you're crying, I'm sorry, what can I—”

“No, no! Keith, I'm— I'm happy.” For some reason, Lance couldn't stop smiling. If he hadn't been sure before, he definitely was now. “I'm really, really happy.”

Keith sighed, but a small smile ghosted over his lips. “You should rest. You've been through a lot.”

“You should too,” Lance countered, crossing his arms even as he lied back down.

Keith nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, Pidge told me as much. I should probably be getting back to my room.” He stood, but was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. He looked back at Lance.

“Wait,” Lance mumbled. Their eyes met. “Stay?”

Keith didn't have to be asked twice. Without another word, he crawled into the hospital bed beside Lance and wrapped his arms around him.

The others found them like that later, both sound asleep.

 

 


End file.
